Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

This method resolved my issue and allowed me to continue backing up to my Synology Diskstation (timemachine target)

I've also forced permissions on my sparsebundles for both my Wired Gigabit Mac Mini and my Wireless Maxbook pro.

MBP has backups back to September

Mini has only just repaired the sparsebundle but am hoping no longer gets this verifications issue.

All seems OK so far!

Same error message from Time Machine here: an iMac 27" backing up through WiFi to a Time Capsule, with frequent wifi problems. I will try the solution suggested by upstatenysteve.

Same error message from Time Machine. I use a late 2009 iMac 27" 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 with a 1 TB Seagate HDD, 12 GB 1067 Mhz DDR3 RAM backing up to a 1TB Time Capsule. Both were purchased in July 2010. I updated from the original OSX 10.6.2 incrementally to 10.8.2(12C60) and until a couple of days ago I have had no issues at all with TM & TC.

At the end of October I was notified to have my main Seagate HDD replaced under the Apple Seagate harddrive replacement programme. The iMac was collected at midday on 21 November to meet when the approved repairer had received the HDD from Apple, I was called at midday the next day to be asked which OSX to load to the new drive (I asked for Mountain Lion but perhaps it should have been the original Snow Leopard OSX?) and the machine was returned to me at midday on 23 November. I restored from the Time Capsule and was back to the last backup as at 21 November by late afternoon. Quite awesome service and simplicity.

The TM continued to carryout backups as normal until midday a couple of days ago.

The only additional software that I had added to the iMac was an update to my Epson DX8400 multifunction machine and the Plex Media Server.

So I suppose my question is could the changes made to my setup through a new HDD but maybe more probably the Plex software have caused this error as it catalogued and sorted the selected music, photo and video media on the iMac. Could it have caused some sort of change to corrupt the verification process?

Is all lost and will the TM have to create a new backup on the TC?

I spoke at length with Apple Care this morning and that seemed to be their stock answer.

Of course at 29 months, I suppose the TC HDD could be just about on its last legs?

Any further help please, folks?

This solution has worked for me. Thanks!

Re the message on 11 Dec, sorry to leave it in the air.

Applecare technicians on further contact eventually confirmed to me that due to the replacement of the original Segate HDD the only solution for my situation was to let the Time Machine/Time Capsule create a completely new backup.

This was because the replacement drive has a different UUID to the original drive and the backup history is therefore allied only to the old drive UUID.

Selection of create a new backup worked seamlessly, however, backups earlier to the new backup creation point are completely lost in the reformat process.

If you wish to save any pertinent data from the history then you might be able to do so. The old Time Machine history may allow you to access it. Mine did, but not fully, and entry to it was not slick and seamless. I also read that you might not access it at all.

I had no need to want to keep any previous history as all my current apps and document copies are up to date and document Versions run back to when they were created, so keeping their own timeline history, tres smart indeed!

Hope this helps and closes my involvement with the thread.

Speckled James:

It's interesting that you bring up the issue with a disassociated time machine backup after replacing a hard drive, as a friend of mine had this exact problem last week and found a solution.. I'm actually surprised that the genius just suggested to create a new backup entirely. There is a utility that allows you to "reassociate" an existing time machine backup with a new machine/drive. My friend found a slightly different resource than the one I'm linking below, but this is all I could come up with after a quick google search: http://simon.heimlicher.com/articles/2012/07/10/time-machine-inherit-backup-usin g-tmutil

If you still have the old backup, give reassociating it a twirl and see if it allows you to go back in time. It might be just what you need.

Best of luck!

upstatenysteve

Hey, thanks very much for the response.

I knew that I should have taken that degree in Computer Science when it was offered to me those many years ago. Then I might not be blundering around like a novice! But maybe Apple could supply (at a price) documentation for their customers that could help avoid so many questions on their soft and hardware being asked on every forum. But then maybe not!

I couldn't find anything like this when I was searching, so I think that you really have to ask the right question to get the right answer from Google. Associate and Inherit being the operatives.

The genius guys should have known that this was available through the Terminal utility in OSX 10.8, so I will attempt to get back to those I spoke with to inform them so that they can correctly advise others with this issue.

This Simon Heimlicher link is very useful and I have now found a few others of a similar vein, and if I had not just decided that I really did not need the 2.5 years worth of backups and so allowed the Time Machine/Capsule to start afresh it looks as if the method may have worked although one respondent to Simon's thread did say that it did not work with Time Capsule. However, I cannot confirm yea or nay as I created a new Backups.backupdb xxxxx iMac.sparsebundle and assume that my original is now long gone as I cannot track it down anywhere.

Keep up the good advice

and a peaceful and Happy New Year to all.

General Melchett's finest carrier pigeon

Exact same issue on a 15" MBP Retina backup up over WiFi to a Synology DS413. The error message is worse than useless, because it doesn't even imply an error of any sort.

Trying the fix now.

The fix "worked" (the volume Time Machine Backups was repaired successfully), but then when I kicked off a time machine backup, it gave the same error.

Next question: Even if I start a new backup, and DON'T get the error message right away, is time machine working properly? Or is it silently corrupt and just doesn't notice until it does a check that triggers the error?

Same problem for me. Three different iMac. Snow Leopard, Lion on a Netgear NAS. Now it is the third time, that i was forced to make a new backup. In two month.

Xtremly frustrating. If Apple doesn´t care about this topic - is there a alternativ out there instead of time machine?

Thanks in advance.

//R

CCC, SuperDuper, Chronosync.. several others.

TIme machine has issues even to airdisk on an airport extreme.. see http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html

So the fact that it doesn't work to a 3rd party NAS is hardly a surprise.. you are supposed to buy a TC.. you have been cajoled into it. Or opt out of TM.

I tried to do the "fix" but apparently I am unable to figure out what the name of my TC is. I have typed in EXACTLY what my Mac shows, but the terminal says the volume cannot be found. I have two Time Capsules with the same name...which could be confusing it? Surely they have another hidden name I am just not seeing?

I have had time machine continually display this message: "Time Machine must create a new backup to improve reliability". Completed a backup two days ago and got the same message again today.

I have an early 2008 Macbook runing lion, and I have a WD Lifebook NAS. I never had a problem backing up wirelessly before I upgraded from SL to Lion. This is the second time I have gotten this message (Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you). Apple, do you want to fix the issue and respond? I am not going to mess around in the utilities terminal just to get TM to work.

I am getting the same message, over, over, and over again. Every 3-4 days. Maybe it is time to forget time machine. Have Mac Book Pro runing Mountain Lion OS.